I'm not sure if I was pleased or not , but on the plane from Dubai to St Petersburg I acted as a translator between a Russian lady with no English and an Irish flight attendant. It was an interesting communication barrier. The problem was that once the lady next to me knew spoke Russian she didn't shut up.....! Then there were the photos of her family and her holiday. She spoke quickly; I was really tired and I must admit that I only understood 50%... but umming and ahing is the same in every language!!Yesterday I caught up with a friend who has 2 daughters 4 and 6.. I hadn't seen them for some time and assumed that the children would be easy to talk to but the 4 year old babbled in Russian and I think only her mother understood her (I hope)... But the 6 yr old was good fun to talk to. Children use more words that I understand and only use one or two concept sentences which make them easier to understand for learners.

When I am tired it is more difficult to put Russian conversation together using the correct grammar so my language becomes 'pidgin Russian'. Some people try to understand and connect the language dots but others look at me as if I'm an idiot...its a really interesting feeling when you don't have the words to communicate as you do in English. ..you need to improvise and rearrange what you want to say all the time.

I had a few language successes today. I went shopping and managed to negotiate fitting rooms, sales assistants, purchases and to get my coffee exactly as I like it... Yeh!!!

We would love to hear your stories of travelling and speaking the language you have been learning... Was it difficult? Did you have high expectations of being able to communicate with the locals?